Dog Tags for Christmas

by Lindsay McKenna

  As Tanner and Bailey neared the glass door to the lobby, he remembered what he’d been doing before she’d arrived. Hoping she wouldn’t be grossed out, or worse yet, faint, he warned, “Chrys is having her puppies—”

  “Oh my gosh,” Bailey interrupted. “Are they all okay? How many did she have? When did she have them? This is such great news for your breeding program. I’ll bet you’re excited.”

  “Whoa.” Tanner stopped the rapid fire of questions. “Take a breath. She was having them when you drove in so I have to warn you, the tree skirt is ruined. Giving birth isn’t pretty.”

  “Ahhh, she had them under the Christmas tree?” Bailey hurried her steps. “I want to see.”

  She’d obviously missed his point. “It’s going to be messy in there.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a woman.” She took a step and her boot slid an inch, but balanced herself and kept on moving. “I know all about messes.”

  Oh, he’d noticed all right. He’d seen her curvaceous little body in spandex-hugging running gear as she practiced for the regional qualifications for the Paralympics last year. Now, she was working toward representing the U.S.A. in Rio.

  When he opened the door for Bailey, he heard a whimper. His gaze flew to Chrys. She was obviously in distress. Big brown eyes beseeched him to help. A peek over his shoulder at Bailey assured him she was fine. In three long strides, he was beside his dog. Counting the pups feeding and sleeping next to her, she hadn’t had another. With a glance at her backside, he knew she wasn’t done.

  Tanner grabbed his cell phone and debated calling the veterinarian, his good friend Case. This was Chrys’s third litter, so she was aware of what to do and had embraced the mothering instinct before. A touch to her abdomen indicated that she was having another contraction.

  He felt a tug on his jacket collar. The clean, lightly citrus scent told him that Bailey stood behind him, but he kept his eyes on the distressed dog.

  Soft hands on the back of his neck sent tingles down his spine. “Let me take your coat and hang it up, then I’ll come help you.”

  He let her slide the coat off his shoulders and focused on the panting female dog in front of him. “I think there are more puppies.” At least that’s what Tanner hoped. If she were having other problems, he’d need Case to get there right away. Given the weather, they might try a video call.

  Bailey positioned herself on the floor beside him, extending her prosthesis out straight. “What can I do to help? Should I boil water or something?”

  He chuckled. “That’s just in the movies.” The sack-covered nose of another puppy emerged.

  “Oh, my.” Bailey’s words were exaggerated on a long exhale of breath. “I’ve never seen anything being born before.”

  “Never?” Tanner looked at her now. Her brown eyes were wide, amazement written across her pretty heart-shaped face. He’d grown up right there, on his grandparents’ farm, which he’d converted into his kennel and training facility after he’d gotten out of the military.

  His family had raised cattle for three generations, so he’d helped pull calves since…well…all his life. The cats that populated the barn and caught the ever-present mice seemed to have kittens constantly. Then there were the dogs. He had seemed to collect them, but Nonni made him stop at eight additional mouths to feed. He couldn’t imagine a life without animals and all the joys they bring.

  “Never.” She sounded disappointed. “My mother refused to allow animals in the house, especially anything the size of these goldens.” She hugged Apollo and leaned into the dog. “So what do you think, big boy? Are you excited about your new babies?”

  Big boy? Tanner glanced at Bailey. Oh, she was talking to Apollo, not me.

  As though the dog understood her words, he licked Bailey’s face. Apollo was trained to read reactions and it suddenly hit Tanner, Bailey was highly emotional at that moment and his dog was comforting her. He should probably be the one offering…whatever she needed.

  The next puppy fully appeared, and Chrys did her thing by cleaning him up.

  “Scoop the puppy up in your hands and place him with the others,” Tanner instructed.

  “I…I can’t do that,” Bailey protested. “It’s so little.” She stared at the squirming new life. “And naked.”

  Tanner burst out laughing. “It has hair, just not all fluffy like you’re used to.” He poked her with his elbow. “Go on.”

  He could practically see her mental pep talk as resolve moved through her body. With an almost imperceptible nod, she slid her hands under the wet puppy and held it up to him. “Now what?”

  “Put him—no, roll it over and let’s see if it’s a boy or girl.” Tanner watched pink tinge her cheeks and roll down her neck. She was so cute, he wanted to take her face in his hands and kiss those glossy lips.

  Bailey shoved the precious bundle toward him. “You can do that.”

  He held both her hands in one of his and rolled the puppy over with the other. Prominently on display was his manhood. “Another boy. That makes five.” Tanner guided their hands down to where the others were suckling as he rolled the newest one to its feet. “I like to help them get nourishment right away. The mother accepts her offspring faster when they eat and she provides them with her own immunities. Chrys is a good mom and all these will do fine.” When Tanner released her hands, it was as though a part of him had left.

  Bailey leaned in close and watched the puppies as some fed and others dozed. Her face was mere inches from his. If she moved her face…

  No. They were business colleagues. She determined which veterans would benefit from having a psychiatric service dog and told him what to train the dog to do. Together, they’d helped forty-eight vets so far, and he had a kennel filled with more dogs at various stages of training. There were hundreds of dog training facilities in the D.C. area, and at least a dozen that specialized in psychiatric service dogs. Pride rushed through him every time he connected one of his dogs to a veteran in need. Even with all these facilities, there was a huge waiting list of vets and not nearly enough trained service animals.

  If he dated Bailey—okay, if by some magical twist of fate he got past the first date with her—and it didn’t work out, she might never want to see him again. Or ever want to talk with him, for any reason, including business. He could lose everything he’d worked so hard to build without the veterans she sent to him. More than anything, he might never see the joy on those vet’s faces when after weeks of working with their new companion they graduate and take their dog home.

  Tanner changed the lives of those men and women who had fought for our country and now suffered because of what they had seen and done in the name of freedom for all.

  No. Having Bailey, holding her in his arms, kissing her, were dreams he could never allow to come true. He had to keep it professional.

  Bleep. Bailey jumped away at the sound of the security panel.

  Tanner checked the video as his childhood friend entered the gate code.

  Case barreled down the driveway in his big, black, four-wheel drive.

  Great. Here comes Mr. Charisma.

  Chapter Two

  Oh. My. Gosh. Tanner almost kissed me.

  At least Bailey had hoped he was going to kiss her. But then she’d jerked away, as though yanked back by a bungie cord to reality. The sound had startled her. She’d been oblivious to her surroundings, caught up in her thoughts. Just like she had been two years ago when…

  No. She had no reason to relive that night. It had been her fault. She accepted the consequences of her actions and lived every day with the reminder. She also thanked God daily that no one else had been hurt in the blast. She couldn’t change the past, but she had the power to mold her future.

  Find your new normal. Every day she instructed at least one veteran with those words. She was finding her new normal. One of her goals was to start dating again. Yesterday, her own psychologist suggested Bailey move a friendship to the next level. In h
er no-time-like-the-present attitude, she’d made the decision to bake cookies and bring them to Tanner tonight along with the paperwork he needed to train the next round of service dogs.

  That whole idea may have been a mistake. Whoever was at the gate had the code and was headed to his place on a Holy night. Although she’d asked fact-finding questions that danced around the issue of a girlfriend, and Tanner had never mentioned anyone…he still might have someone special in his life.

  The man never shared much with her. In her opinion, both as a woman and professionally, he was shy and reserved beyond compare. Also one of the nicest men she knew. She could easily see other women thinking the same thing and maybe one of them had claimed his heart.

  She had to know. She’d always keep their interactions light, casual, one coworker to another.

  Looking Tanner in the eye, she mustered her fortitude. He wasn’t smiling with anticipation of the new person’s arrival, though. “If that’s your girlfriend, I should go.” She started to rise, but he caught her hand.

  “Don’t go…please.” His eyes begged her to stay. He quickly added, “I don’t have a girlfriend.” He glanced at the screen, and she followed his gaze. At the end of the snow-covered sidewalk, a tall man emerged from the biggest pickup truck Bailey had ever seen. It had four doors up front and metal boxes filled the long bed atop huge, wide tires. That rig could make it through any winter storm. Her customized sports car looked like a remote controlled vehicle in front of that black beast.

  The man opened the back door, grabbed a green bag, and headed toward them.

  “Please, Bailey, stay…if you can,” Tanner added hesitantly.

  It was his hopeful smile that made her sit back down.

  “It’s just my friend, Case.” Tanner explained. “He’s also my veterinarian, and he’s coming to check out the pups.”

  Cold air brushed over them when the door opened and a tall man slipped in. He stomped the snow off his boots onto the commercial-grade rug and flipped back the hood on his parka. His gaze swept the room, and returned to the unlit tree where she sat inches away from Tanner.

  “I’m surprised you showed.” Tanner petted Chrys.

  “On my way home and had to drive right past, so I thought I’d check on the puppy progress.” The unique Virginian drawl instantly drew Bailey’s attention to the stranger.

  It was then she realized that Tanner still held her hand. Embarrassed—although she wasn’t sure why she felt like a teenager caught doing something wrong—she slipped her hand from his and petted Chrys’s face.

  “Looks like our girl is doing just fine.” For a second, she thought Tanner had referred to her, then remembered the mother in labor.

  “How many so far?” Case shrugged out of his coat and hung it next to hers on one of the hooks, lining the wall just inside the door. Her coat now looked like it belonged to a child compared the large ones on either side.

  “Five,” Tanner answered. “All boys.”

  When the man turned, his light blue eyes went directly to the dog and held, as though assessing every inch of the mother and her puppies. Obviously satisfied with the canine, Bailey watched his gaze travel over her body. Since her incident, as she preferred to call it, she worried what others thought of her body. Did he notice the prosthesis? She hated that look of pity many people gave her when they saw it. But he scanned right over it and smiled when their gazes met.

  The man’s long legs ate up the space as he strode directly to them and kneeled on the other side of Chrys. He extended his hand. “Well, hello there. I’m Dr. Case Miller. I’m sure we haven’t met. I’d remember someone as gorgeous as you.” He ramped up his smile which Bailey was sure made most women swoon.

  Oh, she knew his type. He was extremely handsome, and he knew it. She’d bet he could get any woman he wanted, but he’d never keep them. He’d emphasized the word doctor. Well, two could play that game.

  She pasted on a smile and took his hand with a firm shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Bailey Conrad.”

  Without releasing her hand, he glanced at the dog then at Tanner before returning his attention to her. “Are you a vet?”

  She held her smile. She knew what he’d meant but chose to answer her way. “Yes.” His eyes widened ever so slightly. Extricating her hand from his, she continued, “I’m a veteran. Army. Did you serve?”

  “No. I left that hero title to Tanner.” Case rose and smacked Tanner on the shoulder. “I need to wash up before I take a look at the puppies.” Leaving the door open as he washed his hands, he called out, “So, Dr. Bailey Conrad, what’s your specialty?”

  “Psychology.” She wished she could have seen his face at that pronouncement. Most people worried that she had some magic ability to see inside their brain, instantly know their deepest, darkest secrets. She was glad she didn’t have that gift. Her own memories were more than enough to bear and the men and women she saw daily had often experienced worse. She didn’t need their horrors running laps around her brain beside her own.

  “I work closely with Bailey.” Tanner didn’t raise his voice or take his eyes off Chrys. “She certifies the veterans to receive a psychiatric service dog, and I train the dogs to meet the specifications to help the veterans.”

  Suddenly, Bailey remembered why she was there. “I have the paperwork for the next five that have been approved, but we need to discuss each one. You’ll to give me a timeframe so I can notify them when they can come here to receive their training. That’s always my favorite time. I love to drop in while you are training the people to communicate with their new dogs.” It was amazing to watch a dog go around to the back of a veteran and lean against his calves, barking when someone approached or got too close. Or hear the veteran’s restless sleep and gently awaken him. The way a dog could be trained to read anxiety and nudge the vet until it was petted astounded Bailey. She was awed by the talented man beside her and the remarkable things he could train a dog to do.

  “That sounds interesting.” Case’s voice was so close she shuddered before she could get her body under control. Once again, her mind had been elsewhere, not on the current situation.

  Tanner took her hand and guided it in long smooth strokes down Chrys’s side. “You’re okay, Bailey.” He audibly drew in deep breaths, exhaling slowly. She matched his breathing.

  As though his hand emitted soothing sensations, her whole body relaxed by the third pass. “I’m fine.” The smile she gave him was genuine.

  Case had been examining each newborn, but she caught his gaze before he lay the pup down and picked up the next.

  “You know,” the vet announced, “statistically Apollo is an anomaly. These are all males, just like the last litter.”

  “Yeah,” Tanner hugged the dog in question around the neck. “He takes after his namesake.”

  Chrys started to pant and all eyes turned to the beautiful mother.

  “Are you going to let me examine you?” Case asked the dog sprawled on the floor. His long fingers caressed down to her lower abdomen where he depressed in several places. “I think there might be one more, but it’s very small.” He and Tanner exchanged a look.

  “Is there something—” Bailey blurted out, her gaze darting between the men.

  “Not all puppies, even in the same litter, develop at the same time.” Case checked Chrys’s eyes and took her temperature. “Since each is conceived separately, and grows within its own environment, each has to be treated as an individual fetus and birth. And just like in humans, not all make it to term.”

  Bailey understood what the veterinarian wasn’t saying. At twenty-eight years old, she’d known several women who’d had miscarriages. A captain’s wife, back at Fort Hood, had delivered a stillborn boy. That had been the saddest funeral she’d ever attended. She closed her eyes, and once again, said a prayer for that family, and for the struggling mother in front of her.

  Chrys was tired. She’d been at this for hours.

  “You can do this,” Bailey reass
ured the puffing dog.

  As though believing the words, Chrys sucked in a deep breath. When she moaned, Bailey looked to Case for help, but he was smiling, staring at the lifted tail.

  “Good girl, just a little more.” Case applied pressure to the pelvic area. “One more.”

  In the dog’s next breath, Tanner exclaimed, “Yes. She did it.”

  Chrys exhaled and laid her head down.

  “Tanner, throw me that towel.” Case nodded to the cloth next to him. “Let’s help her out a little. I’m not sure she has it in her right now to tend to this little one.” Together the two men dealt with the mess of the newborn puppy.

  Yip.

  The high-pitched tiny noise shocked Bailey. Her gaze flew to the men and the tiny squirming bundle in their huge hands. Deep laughs filed the lobby.

  “Well, aren’t you a feisty one?” Case said to the pup. It had an angry look on its tiny face, that couldn’t be any bigger than a quarter. It yapped again, this time louder. Bailey and the two men laughed. Her heart warmed at the delightful sound of the adorable new, tiny animal.

  “Well, let’s see what we have here.” Case rolled the new life over and rubbed the towel on its belly. “Well, I’ll be.”

  “Wow. It’s a girl.” Tanner rubbed the hair on Apollo’s head. “Congratulations on your first daughter.”

  A thrill welled inside Bailey. She’d been there. Watching and comforting the mother had been a huge delight, but to be there for a first, filled her to overflowing joy.

  Tanner’s smile was ear to ear. “You must be good luck, Bailey. Why don’t you do the honors and name her?”

  Bailey’s mind went instantly blank. She couldn’t think of a name. Sure, she had lots of girlfriends, but it didn’t seem fair to use one of those. The others would need dogs named after them, too, and at the lack of female pups around there, it would take a lifetime. Tanner often waited to name the puppies. He liked their personality to dictate the name.